EN
Self portrait of the artist
Self portrait of the artist

There is probably no photographer as passionately committed to working with the Leica camera as Ilse Bing was. Starting in 1929, this miniature camera was her constant companion and remained such for over two decades: ‟I felt that the camera grew into an extension of my eyes and moved with me“. With the help of close-ups, the extensive use of daring perspectives, unconventional cropping, and geometric and detailed perspectives; the motifs are isolated and almost alienated from their original context. She also discovered a type of solarisation for negatives independently of a similar process developed by the artist Man Ray. Ilse Bing was born in 1899 in Frankfurt / Main, Germany. In 1930, she moved to Paris where she lived until 1941, but in the shadow of World War II, she and her husband immigrated to New York City. 

Bing’s extraordinary technique and the quality of her photographs caught the art world’s attention in the beginning of the 1930s. Especially in Europe, in the USA, and in Japan she earned an excellent reputation as a photojournalist and fashion photographer. In 1936, her work was included in the first modern photography exhibition held at the Louvre and in 1937, she travelled to New York where her images were included in the landmark exhibition "Photography 1839 - 1937" at the Museum of Modern Art. In the 1970s, her work was rediscovered and since then has been exhibited several times. Today, her pieces are presented in the collections of many important museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Publications

Biography

Biography
1899
Ilse Bing is born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, into a wealthy Jewish family.
1920

Begin of studies in mathematics and physics at University of Frankfurt, followed by a shift to the studies of art history.

1924

Begin of a doctorate on the classicist German architect Friedrich Gilly (1772 - 1808).

1928
Bing's introduction to photography was prompted by a practical need to illustrate her dissertation. She bought a Voigtlander camera in 1928 and began teaching herself photography. The following year, she bought a Leica, the new and revolutionary 35-mm handheld camera that allowed Photographers to capture fast-moving events. Not only was Bing able to photograph buildings for her dissertation, but she also used her newly acquired skills to earn extra money as a photojournalist for the German illustrated supplement Das Illustriete Blatt.
1929 - 1930
After her first commercial successes with photography, Bing abandoned her dissertation in the summer of 1929 and decided to move to Paris in 1930 to focus on photography from then on.
1931
First exhibition in Paris with a series of photographs of dancers at the Moulin Rouge. Bing meets the New York-based writer Hendrik Willem van Loon, who becomes her most important patron.
1932
Collector and gallerist Julien Lévy shows Bing's work in his New York exhibition Modern European Photography: Twenty Photographers.
1937
Return to Paris. Marriage with German pianist Konrad Wolff.
1940 - 1941
The Jewish couple is forced to leave Paris. Internment in various camps in Southern France. Escape to the USA in 1941.
1950s
Bing repeatedly exhibits in New York until the late 1950s, but worked less and less as a photojournalist before quitting photography altogether.
1998
Died in New York, USA.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions
2022-23
Ilse Bing

Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, Spain

2021
Ilse Bing. Photographs 1928 - 1935

Galerie Karsten Greve Paris

Learn more
2020
Ilse Bing: Queen of the Leica

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA
 

2020
Ilse Bing - Paris and Beyond

F11 Foto Museum, Hong Kong

2016
Ilse Bing: Life and Work

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

2014-15

Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, USA

2012

Lee Gallery, Winchester, VA, USA

2011-12

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2007
Photographies. Ilse Bing

Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

2006-07

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2005-06
Early Work. Ilse Bing

Lee Gallery, Winchester, VA; Boston, MA, USA

2005
Queen of Leica

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

2004-05

Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

1997-98
Visions of a Century

Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, USA

1995-96
Fotografien 1929 - 1956

Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen, Germany

1994
Vintage Photographs

Galerie Zur Stockeregg, Zurich, Switzerland

1993-94
Moulin Rouge, Paris 1931

Houk Friedman, New York, USA

1991-92
Frankfurt, Paris, New York

Houk Friedman, New York, USA

1990-91
Pol Piérat, Barbara Jaffe

Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium

1989
Fotografien der dreißiger Jahre

Olympus Galerie, Hamburg, Germany

1989
Germany, Paris, New York

Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA

1987-88
Photographien

Galerie Friedrich, Cologne, Germany

1986-89
Paris 1931 - 1952

Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France; Alliance Française, New York, USA; Lichtbild - Galerie, Hamburg, Germany

1985-86
Photographs

Galerie Rena Bransten, San Francisco, CA, USA

1984-85
Fashion Photographs from Harper´s Bazaar

Zabriskie Gallery, New York, USA

1984
Mains photographies par Ilse Bing

La Galerie des Femmes, Paris, France

1983-85
Three Decades of Photography

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, USA; International Center of Photography, New York, USA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, USA

1983-84
Work from Three Decades

The Light Factory, Charlotte, NC, USA

1982
Photographies 1929 - 1955. Femmes de l’enfance à la vieillesse

La Galerie des Femmes, Paris, France

1982-83

Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC, USA

1981-82
Fashion Photographs from the 1930’s

Simon Lowinsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

1980-81
Ilse Bing and Ella Bergmann-Michel

Galerie Zabriskie, Paris, France

1979

Heusenstamm Stiftung, Frankfurt, Germany

1979
Vintage Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s

Simon Lowinsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

1978-79
Vintage Photographs from the 1930s

Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chigago, IL, USA

1977-78

Council of Art, Las Vegas, NV, USA

1975-76

The Witkin Gallery, Inc., New York, USA

1958-59
An Exhibition of Colour Photography

Designer’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

1957-58
Photographs

Bennet College, Milbrook, New York, USA

1954-55
Photographs

New York Public Library, New York, USA

1953-54

Junior League Gallery, St. Louis, MO, USA

1952-53
Photographic Compositions by Ilse Bing

The American Institute of Architects, Washington, DC, USA

1950-51
Photographs 1931 - 1951

New York Public Library, New York, USA

1949-50
Etudes photographiques New York, 1947 - 1950

Galerie-Libraire Palmes, Paris, France

1948-49
Photographs

Carroll-Knight Gallery, St. Louis, MO, USA

1947-48
Photographs

The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

1946-47
Exposition de photographie. Visages et enfants des Etats-Unis

Galerie de l’Arc-en Ciel, Paris, France

1935-36

June Rhodes Gallery, New York, USA

1932-33

American Library, Paris, France

1931-32

Galerie Trittler, Frankfurt, Germany

Group exhibitions
2022-23
Special Show - leading and emerging women artists

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

Learn more
2021
The New Woman Behind The Camera

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

2020
Photography’s last century at the Met Fifth Avenue

Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY, USA

2020
Picturing America: Ilse Bing, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange & Edward Weston in MoMa

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA

2019
Unseen: 35 years of collecting photographs at the Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, USA
 

2010-11
Der Zweite Blick

Galerie Lichtblick, Cologne

2010
Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

2009
Twilight Visions: Surrealism, Photography, and Paris

Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee; International Centre of Photography, New York; Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, USA

2009-10
Street Photography: Selected Works from Six Decades

Kunsthandel Jörg Maaß, Berlin, Germany

2008-09
Paris capitale photographique 1920 – 1940

Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

2007-08
On the Refrain

Robert Mann Gallery, New York, USA

2006-07
Paris in Transition: Photographs from the National Gallery

National Gallery, Washington, DC, USA

2004
Die Kunst zu fliegen - In Film und Fotografie

NRW Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany

2003-04
La Collection Ordóñez Falcón - Une passion partagée

La Botanique, Centre culturel de la Communauté Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

2001-02
Große Lichtbildner des 20. Jahrhunderts. Ilse Bing und Willy Ronis

Kamera- und Fotomuseum, Leipzig, Germany

1996
History of Women Photographers

New York Public Library, New York, USA

1995
Ilse Bing – Marta Hoepffner – Abisag Tüllmann. Drei Fotografinnen in Frankfurt

Historisches Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

1994
Fotografieren hieß teilnehmen. Fotografinnen der Weimarer Republik

Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Jewish Museum, New York, USA; Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

1994
The camera in Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA

1994
Fotografieren hieß teilnehmen. Fotografinnen der Weimarer Republik

Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Jewish Museum, New York, USA; Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

1994-95
Ilse Bing – Marta Hoepffner – Abisag Tüllmann. Drei Fotografinnen in Frankfurt

Historisches Museum, Frankfurt, Germany

1993-94
The camera in Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA

1992-93
La course au modern.Genormte Verführer

Werkbund-Achiv, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany; Regionalgeschichtliches Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany

1989
The New Vision. Photography Between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

1989
Faces of the Fifties

Simon Lowinsky Gallery, New York, USA

1988-89
La course au modern.Genormte Verführer

Werkbund-Achiv, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany; Regionalgeschichtliches Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany

1988-89
The New Vision. Photography Between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

1986
Self-Portrait in the Age of Photography

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA

1986
La nouvelle photographie en France 1919 - 1939

Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, France; Musée Reattu, Arles, France; Musée de Carcassonne, France

1986
La nouvelle photographie en France 1919 - 1939

Muée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, France; Musée Reattu, Arles, France; Musée de Carcassonne, France

1986-87
Deutsche Lichtbildner: Wegbereiter der zeitgenössischen Fotografie

Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Fotografiska Museum, Helsinki, Norway

1986
Self-Portrait in the Age of Photography

Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA

1985
Das Aktfoto

Stadtmuseum München, Munich, Germany

1985
L’autoportrait á l´âge de la photographie

Musée cantonnal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

1985
Ami Alber, prints; Ella Bergmann, drawings; Ilse Bing, photographs

The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

1985
Self Portrait. Photographer´s person 1840 - 1985

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

1985-86
50 Jahre Moderne Farbfotografie 1936 - 1986

Fotokina, Cologne, Germany

1985-86
50 Jahre Moderne Farbfotografie 1936 - 1986

Fotokina, Cologne, Germany

1984
Portraits of Artists. Faces Photographed

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA

1984
The Dog Observed

The Dog Museum of America, New York, USA

1983
Figure de la danza

Teatro Municipale, Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy

1982
Cinq années de la photographie

Galerie Zabriskie, Paris, France

1982
Facets of the Collection. Urban America

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA

1981
German photographs of the 1920´s and 1930´s

Sander Gallery, Washington, DC, USA

1981
Facets of the Collection. Portraits of Artists

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA

1981
Autoportraits photographiques 1898 - 1981

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1981
Facets of the Collection. Photography in France and England 1920 - 1950

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA

1979
Photography / Venezia ´79

(Joint exhibition of the city of Venice and UNESCO), Venice, Italy

1979
Photographs from the Israel Museum

The Witkin Gallery, Inc., New York, USA

1979
France Between the Wars. Photography and Sculpture

Zabriskie Gallery, New York, USA

1979
French Fashion Photography

Galerie Zabriskie, Paris, USA

1979-80
Eleventh Anniversary Show

The Witkin Gallery, New York, USA

1978-79
Tenth Anniversary Show

The Witkin Gallery, Inc., New York, USA

1978
French Photography: The New Spirit 1935 - 1940

Galerie Zabeiskie, Paris, France

1978
New Acquisitions

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

1978
Diverse Images: The Photography Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art

The New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, USA

1978
Fleeting Gestures: Treasures of Dance Photography

The International Center for Photography, New York, USA

1976-77
Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection

The Witkin Galery, Inc., New York, USA

1976
Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection Starting with Atget

The Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Center for Photography, New York; Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH; The Lakeview Academy of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, IL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA

1959-60
Fifteenth Annual Conference

Bennett College, Millbrook, New York, USA

1942-43
Art in Exile

New York Public Library, New York, USA

1941-42
Photographs

Wildenstein Gallery, New York, USA

1938-39
Photographs

Kunstindustri Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark

1937-38
Les Photographes

La Pléiade, Paris, France

1936-37
Photography 1839 - 1937

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

1936
Exposition internationale de la photographie contemporaine

Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, France

1934
Les Photographes

La Pléiade, Paris, France

1934
XXIXe Salon international d’art photographique

La Société française de photographie et de cinématographie, Paris, France

1933
Fotografien aus dem Studio Schall. Ilse Bing und M. Jacques Azéma

Maison Tiranty, Paris, France

1933
XXVIIIe Salon international d’art photographique

La Société française de photographie et de cinématographie

1933
Second Philadelphia International Salon of Photography

Pennsylvania Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA

1933
Les Photographes

La Pléiade, Paris, France

1932
Les Photographes

La Pléiade, Paris, France

1932
Modern European Photography. Twenty Photographers

The Julien Levy Gallery, Inc., New York, USA

1932
International Photography

The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA

1932
Photographie moderne (Modern Photography)

Galerie d’Art contemporain, Paris, France

1931
Das Lichtbild (The Photograph)

Museum Folkwang, Essen, Allemagne

1931
XXVIe Salon international d’art photographique

La Société française de photographie et de cinématographie et le Photo Club

1930-31
Les Photographes

La Pléiade, Paris, France

0976-76
New Acquisitions

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

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